Live posting from TLSS

but I'll be leaving early to get to the exam/IB meeting...posting as we go
Mr. O'Connell is running through the order in which we'll be taking the items.

Starting with crew, and we're getting a correction on the total, which should read $155,207.
We have not received any corporate sponsorships for new shells, but we've received extensive assistance from various teams and local community organizations.
Athletic Director David Shea lauds the booster club and students for their fundraising efforts to keep the club going.
We're looking at a cost to the district, if the district were to fund, of $61,707 per year, covering salaries, buses, uniforms, gas, shell rental, insurance, food, and truck rental.
Biancheria is asking for a full budget for crew before April.
Shea notes that the crew team is a citywide team where the students are working together across the quadrants.
Biancheria asks how we recruit crew team members. Shea: no students rejected. Tryouts are publicized through athletic liaisons at each school, through other students, and through social media (!).
Freshmen through senior year; Biancheria requests how many from which school and grade level.
Monfredo speaks again of corporate sponsorship; Shea says we have not yet explored corporate sponsorship
Rodrigues says Boone is looking to funnel donations through WEDF.
O'Connell on the history of the crew team; his suggestion seen by the mayor at the time as "typical from someone coming out of a 'preppy' background."

Preschool:
Monfredo asks if we're talking to private preschools
Rodrigues, yes, there has also been talk of a summit, when we have our meetings, same people coming all of the time. Need for additional full day preschool
Biancheria: accept kindergartners from outside the city, but not preschoolers
have we always had a waiting list? Yes, for typically developing preschoolers, but number of students varies by building.
Meade-Montague: waiting list is kept at both school and district level, so that opening levels can be filled, should they become available.
Biancheria: do we ever not have a waiting list at particular schools? Yes, parents have three choices. If there is an opening in their second or third choice, they can go to that school.
Meade-Montague: there have been times that we've opened a new site in January; those parents are contacted first.
Biancheria asks what the program needs: Monfredo responds including students as full day students in the foundation budget
Rodrigues: early intervention three year olds drive the number of classes we have for preschool; sometimes have to find resources on the fly to open another classroom
At age 2.8, we project how many students are coming in, as any student with a signed IEP must be in our schools by their third birthday.
Biancheria: how are we projecting? murmur from staff that Brian Allen does those projections
Rodrigues speaks of projecting students turning three who are on IEPs
quarterly with early intervention providers
Biancheria: we are ready on their birthday (even if they turn three in March); imagines that not having transportation is a deterrent
charter schools dipping into our budget; "we should come first"
Colorio: neighbors whose child attends preschool, is there translation to help them navigate the system and getting their kid to school? Yes, from Rodrigues. Do we have a proactive system of getting them there?
O'Connell: consideration to full-day preschool programs, are we talking to day care providers?
Rodrigues: meet twice a year with groups
is there anyway that we can help them or they can help us?
Rodrigues: hopeful that Governor's agenda will allow for expanded options
Comment from a mom that typically developing children's parents aren't getting the same sort of support; what do you do with the kid at 11:30? Difficulty in organizing
note from administration that day care transportation can be organized from the private provider.
Woodland Academy and Lincoln Street both have full day preschool; the remainder of the 37 sites are half-day sites.
Waitlist varies from year to year. Sometimes the half day precludes families from applying.
Colorio: have we considered a 3/2 full day preschool (two full days, 3 half days, or vice versa).
HeadStart has over 700 students across the city with a waiting list, as well
O'Connell suggests something that lays out the options available to parents...perhaps through the regional school daycare providers
comments on the limited space we have for any expansion we have
note that Head Start is up for a cut under sequestration, now ticking down to March. If that cut went through, that would be eight of our Head Start teachers.

Passed for funding

The five accelerated repair projects approved for funding today! Look for work this summer!

Back to back meetings tomorrow

For those interested in all things WPS, we're having two meetings tomorrow night:

• Teaching, Learning, and Student Supports is having their second meeting in two weeks tomorrow night at 5:30. You can find the agenda here (sorry, bad connection, link to follow). Two biggies on the agenda: an update on curriculum renewal, and the implementation on the Common Core standards (which are linked).We haven't yet seen the back-up on this, and there isn't one yet posted. There's also a review of the application process for preschool (timely!), crew team participation, and a bit on civics education. That will be broadcast live on Channel 11; it will be at the Durkin Administration Building on the 4th floor.
• We're also having our next meeting of Mayor Petty's Ad-Hoc Committee on a possible IB and/or exam school. Please note that we are not issuing the final report tomorrow night. The Ad-Hoc committee will be reviewing two reports from administration: one from Mr. Perda regarding admissions, and one from Mr. Allen on budget. The committee will then vote to recess to executive session for the purposes of reviewing a draft report, which will be public next month. That meeting is at 7:30 in the Levi Lincoln room in City Hall (3rd floor, turn right). 

A few other notes from the MSBA board meeting

I stayed until the end, because it's good to know how these things work!

• The MSBA board was assured at the meeting that Governor Patrick's proposal to rework how much the sales tax is and how it is distributed would not change the penny dedicated to MSBA. Good news!
• Medford was charged by a board member with keeping in mind that their new and renovated science labs should mean a renewal of science professional development, so teachers could make the best use of the modern labs.
• The Springfield Central High School project was listed under science labs, but the project is 12 new labs, renovation of 6 labs and a greenhouse, new roof, and a new sprinkler system. Of that, the state is funding $23.9 million of a total $32 million.
• Brookline, which today was approved for feasibility for Edward Devotion (elementary) School, was lauded for having the wisdom to do a full enrollment study before presenting this school before the board. Brookline has grown by 30% over the past decade, and they have several times been before MSBA on varioius projects having to do with enrollment. They had been warned that they should really project full enrollment across the district before coming forward with more, which they did.
• For those curious on how timelines are going, of the two districts that entered the feasibility phase for new or majorly renovated schools, Brookline was invited into eligibility last March, Georgetown last October. There is some chance that Nelson Place will be on the agenda for April's meeting, should all continue to roll forward.

Posting remotely

from the MSBA board meeting at ten, where our five accelerated repair projects will (we hope!) receive authorization to execute the project funding agreement. Of the $19.7 million being considered for execution, Worcester is $7,226,235. Other communities on the list (most for roof work) are Attleboro, Blackstone-Millville, Leominster, Norton, Quaboag, Southampton, Taunton, Wayland, Wilmington.

Return to federalism?

The National School Boards Association, meeting in Washington this week, today published a press release along with draft legislation calling for a return to a federalist model of educational policy:

The proposed legislation would ensure that the Department of Education’s actions are consistent with the specific intent of federal law and are educationally, operationally, and financially supportable at the local level. This would also establish several procedural steps that the Department of Education would need to take prior to initiating regulations, rules, grant requirements, guidance documents, and other regulatory materials.

The draft legislation is here. It reads in part:

 As the focus of the federal government in education has grown, the vital national interest in local self‐governance of local educational agencies has been weakened through federal agency regulation, grant conditions, guidance materials and other requirements that are either unnecessary to achieve the specific direction of legislation enacted by the United States Congress, or that impose unnecessary limits on the flexibility that local educational agencies need in order to meet local, state, and federal goals in education

More on Duncan before the NSBA conference here.

Getting kids in the door

Really want to know why we don't have more poor, urban kids of color in the sciences? Read this.